To help the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area (Tehachapi WRA) better understand the wind patterns and meteorological conditions that impact the wind farm’s energy production, STI provided continuous upper-air measurements and analyzed the data to improve short-term wind forecasts.
The Tehachapi WRA is the largest wind farm in California and produces as much as 4,500 megawatts of power in a day. Improving the short-term wind forecasts allows operators to better estimate the electricity output for a given day. STI recorded one year of upper-air measurements from a monitoring network stationed along the pass, and worked with UC Davis to evaluate the data and improve the models used in the short-term forecasts.
The project was launched through funding by the California Energy Commission, with continued funding from the Electric Power Research Institute.